> In a new study, researchers induced mild, acute sleep deprivation in mice and then examined their behaviors and brain activity. Not only did dopamine release increase during the acute sleep loss period, synaptic plasticity also was enhanced — literally rewiring the brain to maintain the bubbly mood for the next few days.
Further in the article they discuss monitoring activity of dopamine neurons and modifying individual neurons in the brains of these mice (which has parts analogous to human in many ways including emotion) and describing the behavior of sleep deprived mice which sort of implies what the normal behavior is.
What’s a mouse like when it’s in a bubbly mood?!